SCG patrons were left up in arms after intermittent showers and bad light saw the final three hours of play scrapped on day one of the fifth Ashes Test. Day 2 live from 10am AEDT!
England sits in a strong position entering day two after Joe Root (72*) and Harry Brook (78*) combined for an unbeaten 154-run partnership, leading them to 3-211 at stumps.
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But after play was stopped just before 3pm local time due to dark clouds causing day light, covers went on and were never removed.
That was despite long periods of no rain at all, with ground staff seemingly fearful of the potential of more rain, and match officials unwilling to try and get the game going.
News Corp described it as “daylight robbery at the SCG – literally”.
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“Yes, there were showers around and some lightning for a brief period, but the International Cricket Council and its archaic rules simply cannot continue to treat fans like mugs,” Ben Horne and Lachlan McKirdy wrote.
“Sunday’s crowd of 49,574 was the highest for a day of Test cricket at the SCG since 1975-76, and yet they were an afterthought for match officials who appeared to show no impetus to even try to get play back underway.”
Pictured are clouds over Sydney as the rain begins to fall at the Sydney Cricket Ground during Day One of the Pink Test. Picture: Richard DobsonSource: News Corp Australia
A brief shower hit the SCG just after stumps were called at 5pm but there were sunny periods where umpires did not even check the middle of the ground, and light was available well into the early evening.
England batter Brook was on the umpires’ side, declaring: “I could hardly see the ball when I was batting at the end.
“Me and Rooty just said to them it’s so dark out here, the Aussie boys were saying, ‘Are we going off?’ So, yeah, everybody was pretty much in the same boat.”
Australia has an unassailable 3-1 lead in the series.
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